Serial order short-term memory, item short-term memory and vocabulary learning in bilingual adults of Cantonese and English

Abstract

Previous studies of bilingual speakers have shown a strong relationship between phonological short-term memory and vocabulary learning, particularly serial order short-term memory. This study tested the hypothesis of phonological short-term memory in predicting the acquisition of expert vocabulary in bilingual adults of Cantonese and English. Twenty undergraduate students were recruited and different behavioural tests were administered to investigate their extant vocabulary knowledge in both languages and their phonological short-term memory abilities. Two phases of data collection were involved in this study: tests of phonological memory, cognitive abilities and lexical decision were carried out in Phase 1; where in Phase 2, lexical decision task was re-tested to measure the change in their vocabulary learning overtime. It has been found that extant vocabulary knowledge and phonological short-term memory are good predictors of vocabulary learning. The results also give evidence to the idea of a shared lexico-semantic process in both languages.